Room 505: Sam and Thrall's Room

Dmitry had spent most of the first week or so of the new semester between classes, the library, and the cafeteria, coming back mostly to sleep and shower. Even after that, he'd been quiet and kept to himself a lot.

It didn't last forever.

The library was one thing, but it was still the library, full of people going in and out, uncomfortable chairs, and Fable. When it came time to start writing papers, eventually he had to come back to his room, hole up with headphones and snacks, and hope the music held out through most of the first draft.

They didn't, and he lost his ability to concentrate. He found himself sprawled out on the bed, arms dangled over the sides, balancing Cheetos on his nose.

Sam eased the door open and snorted when she saw her roommate's balancing act. She hadn't been able to see much of him, as they both followed different schedules, and often one of them was already asleep by the time the other ambled into the room after whatever activities they chose to occupy their time.

"What's your record so far?"

"Checking the clock would require turning my head, so no fucking clue." He tossed his head forward quickly; the Cheeto missed his open mouth and landed on his shirt, causing a small cheese stain before he plucked it off and ate it.

"Damnit." He sat up, not quite looking at Sam. Was the stain worth dealing with now? It was one of his nice-ish button-downs, but it was also one Cheeto. If he were at home, he'd just strip it off and toss it at the hamper, but that seemed vaguely inappropriate now.

Instead, he decided to move up against the bed's headboard, wipe his hand on his napkin, and have another handful of Cheetos. He fingerwaved awkwardly at Sam. "Hi."

Sam grinned. "Hey."

She dug around in her bag and produced a handful of ramunes. "Found these in the fridge. They had Kemekin's name on them, so they're mine now." Smirk. "Want?"

Dmitry's face slowly shifted from "sullen and frustrated" to "cautious interest".

"Are those fancy sodas? 'Cause I'll take that." He wiped his hand again and sat napkin and half-empty Cheeto bag on his bedside dresser. "What flavors?"

Sam named the flavors as she lined them up on the desktop. "Original, melon, strawberry, lychee, mango, and, uh... this looks like bubblegum."

She tapped her lower lip and looked at the bottle marked melon. "This looks like honeydew."

"...Huh." Dmitry looked them over. Melon looked like a pretty safe bet, as did strawberry. He had no idea what a lychee was, and mango and bubblegum sounded like they might be really sugary, which could be a good or bad thing.

Why not be adventurous? "I'll take whatever you don't want. Except the bubblegum. Man, I want to know where Kemekin bought these."

Granted, his mother usually didn't take any of them along to do grocery shopping after certain childhood incidents, so maybe fancy sodas were everywhere and he'd just missed them.

Sam grinned and slid mango, strawberry, and original towards him. "These are delicious and you must try them." She popped open the lychee and took a sip, the marble rattling in the neck of the bottle.

"There's a big market by the movie theater that specifically sells candy and sparkly things and shit." She flicked her hair out of her eyes. "Kemekin drags Jaebi there a lot. Mostly to use Jaebi as a shield from all the glitter, I imagine."

"Huh. Guess I'll have to check it out."

He definitely remembered a glittery place by the movie theater. He thought he might have even been in there at least once; he'd have to drag Rudeth or Hitomi there, if he could. Rudeth liked candy and Hitomi liked candy and glitter. He popped open the original flavor and sipped it slowly. It was... well, he didn't know what he'd expected.

Dmitry realized he'd been thinking of his family. So, back to normal, then. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Thanks."

Sam looked her roommate over, a small smile on her lips as she sipped her ramune.

"Hey."

She tossed a packet of dragon gummies at him.

"You okay?"

...Gummies. He ripped the package open and considered a few different flippant replies before deciding that Sam was probably cool. He shrugged.

"I dunno," he said honestly. "Life's weird. You know?"

"Very weird," Sam agreed. She hopped up on the desktop and folded her legs neatly. "It's a miracle some of us get through it without going insane."